bloviatrix

FG suggested looking at Mikasa. If you go that route, see if they have a factory outlet near you. They sell sets as well as open stock. The prices are excellent.

Ronnie, you inspired me. I had some herbs that needed to be finished, so I thought I would make an herb mayo. Dug out the flat top cuisinart cover. It was like a revelation. Especially when it came to cleaning up. It's such a bitch to clean out the feed tube of the other cover, especially when you're using oil. This was a snap. Bless your soul!!

Well, Almond Breezes isn't an option then. My husband informed me last night that he doesn't want to host an open house this year. Which would mean fewer desserts needed. I'm not sure if I like this idea or not. Planning the desserts is more fun than figuring out all the other menus.

We went out for brunch with my b-i-l and his family yesterday morning. They asked for ketchup to go with their eggs. It's taken 24 hours for my stomach to recover from this affront.

I outfitted my mil's kitchen for Passover. I figure, if I'm doing all the cooking, I need equipment I'm happy with. This means knives, cutting boards (she's of the cutting in the air school), a microplane grater, whisks, wood spoons, and even a Cuisinart. She's better equipped for an 8 day holiday then for the rest of the year.

Don't worry, a guy named Finklestein is making the bbq, so its kosher. If only it was that easy.

This sounds like so much fun. I just asked Blovie if he'd be interested in attending a Pig BBQ and he threw back a dirty look. But, I'm going to work on him. We wouldn't be eating, but it would be nice to finally put faces with all the names. When is the latest I can let you know?

I picked up some fabulous corn from the greenmarket today. So we had corn schmeared with sweet butter and bit of salt. Didn't need anything else.

When I bought my Cuisinart (I have the 11 cup), 8 years ago, it came with two covers. I have never had luck with the flat cover. Everything seems to spray out when I use it. They changed the top several years ago as part of the re-design. At the time, they also changed the front panel to push buttons, which makes cleaning the base easier. This new top looks much easier to clean -- there are fewer pieces.

As an FYI, kosher salt got its name because of the size of the crystals. All salt is kosher, but "kosher" salt has large crystals which makes it ideal for salting process required to kosher meat. So if you can't find kosher salt, just use a large crystalled salt such as sea.

I hate cooking at my mother's house. She's not a bad cook, but can't I figure out how she does it with her kitchen. Her equipment is lousy. She's had the same pots for 55 years so they're all banged up. Her knives aren't sharp. She has no wooden spoons. And you can't tell whether any specific piece of equipment is meat, dairy, or pareve. The, there are her requirements. Primarily, salt is a no-no. And she doesn't have olive oil in her pantry. My final complaint, is that her rangetop is electric. I don't understand how anyone can cook with such a non-reactive heat source. Fortunately, I'm rarely called upon to cook when I'm there.

thebaker, what restaurant did you work at? Was it in New York? Plus I would love your recipe for pastry cream. Thus far, I have settled on one dessert. I'm going to make a strawberry and vanilla infused balsamic vinegar sorbet for lunch on saturday which I will serve in martini glasses. This leaves me with the need for a "showpiece" dessert for friday night dinner, and something for sunday lunch. Saturday night will be a light meal, so I don't plan on making a dessert. I'm considering hosting a big open house on saturday afternoon with about 8 different desserts. Last year I made assorted biscotti/mandel brodt, cookies, a flourless chocolate cake and blueberry tartlets. I'll be in the kitchen pretty much non-stop for the next few weeks.

Today at Union Square: Eggplants Green and Yellow Zukes Beets Onions Dill Corn Apricots (the last of the season) Green Peppers My shoulders are aching from lugging all this stuff home on the subway.

I, on the other hand, have a tendency to spill red wine on my husband. Several weeks ago, he was wearing a brand new polo shirt. I proceeded to spill my wine all over the front of his shirt. It now has a pale purple splotch.

I've used Edensoy, Vitasoy and Zen Don soy milks. Mostly I've used them in "creaming" soups and in my pumpkin pie. With all of them, I've learned you have to be careful with the temperature. If they hit a rolling boiling they tend to curdle. Personally, I find the taste of soy milk noxious, so I will try to convince my dear Blovie to do a taste test for me. Last year I made a soy milk based pastry cream using the recipe in New Jewish Cuisine by Carole Sobell -- I made a raspberry tart. It never thickened as much as I would have liked so the pastry cream ran all over the place when the tart was sliced. I'm not sure if the runniness was due to the recipe or the soy milk. When comparing her recipe to RLB's in The Pie and Pastry Bible and Payard's the big difference other than the soy milk is that her recipe calls for flour as a thickener and RLB and Payard both have cornstarch and butter. I think the lack of butter may have something to do with consistency. I don't know if margerine will have the same effect, and I really don't want to go over-board on the margerine. It's really an awful product.

You mean dear old Miriam Stewart.

Are you willing to share your recipe? The only one I have calls for heavy cream, which defeats the purpose.

Frangipane is almond cream. Think sugar, almonds, butter, eggs, and flour. When baked, it becomes cakey. The problem with frangipane is that it calls for butter (at least the Payard recipe calls for it). This means using margarine as a substitute. And although Payard's tart dough is suprisingly flakey with margerine, I don't know how the frangipane will taste.

Your post reminded me that I have recipe for a Couscous pudding made with coconut milk and that might be a good idea. As for Almond Breezes, I'm not sure if it's kosher. I'll have to take a look at it.

Jason, believe me, I appreciate the suggestions. As I've already said, halvah is a great idea. And I'm open to other ideas (perhaps I need to start a new thread call desserts w/no diary?). I'm far from traditional when I cook my meals, so the ideas don't have to Jewish in nature.

I need to rant for a moment. I know that all desserts taste better when made with butter, cream, milk, etc. I've confined my cooking to dairy only this summer, and as a result, my desserts have been nice and rich. Before this summer I never kept a steady supply of heavy cream in fridge, but this summer I've gone a bit wild. So, now that we're going back to fall and the holidays, I'll be returning to cooking meat meals, which means finding the appropriate desserts. And I'm feeling the frustration of being limited. I know sorbets are an option, and I have pareve equipment for my ice cream maker. Last year I made a mango-star anise sorbet that went over well. Gordon Ramsey has fruit gelees in his book, and that looks promising. I can always go the poached fruit route, and I've done that many times. It's just that I want to do something different. Hence my thoughts about soy milk. This is when kashrut is a bitch. End rant.

It's just that I would really like to do a nice fruit tart with a pastry cream. I think it would look impressive. As for halvah, I can't seem to find a recipe for it (I was on a quest about 4 months ago - pre-egullet). Do you have one? My m-i-l is addicted to halvah. I would make a lifelong ally if I could make it from scratch.

Ok, I know this is sacriligous, but I need some help. I'm planning my menus for Rosh Hashannah, and most of meals will be meat based. This means I can't serve dairy-based desserts. Does anyone have experience using soy milk to make pastry cream or ice cream? If it's doable, I'm thinking about that as an option.

What was your family food culture when you were growing up? I grew up on Long Island to parents that are first-generation Americans. As Ashkenaz (European) jews, the food we ate was a combination of the standard "jewish" fare and whatever food trends were popularized in the newspapers. Our life seemed to revolve around the kitchen or dining room table. My mom had certain ideas about food. Milk was required at every breakfast (you had to have at least 3 glasses of milk a day). Lettuce and tomatoes were served with lunch and dinner every day. Fresh ingredients were important. There were a few local farmstands, and in the spring and summer my dad would buy tomatoes and corn. Was meal time important? Extremely so. Everyone was expected to be home and at the table. There was no TV, radio, or printed materials allowed at the table. And you were required to contribute to the conversation - usually about current events. This even extended to when I lived at home after college. My dad would call me at work to verify the time of my arrival on the railroad so we could eat dinner together. When I explained that I had to stay at work and wouldn't make it home for dinner, I was told that since I lived at home, I was required to eat with the family. Was cooking important? I recently asked my mom if she enjoyed cooking. She said it was her job and it wasn't something that she loved to do, although she enjoyed cooking for special occasions and trying out new recipes. That said, cooking plays a very important role in the orthodox jewish house. It seemed to me that my mom was always preparing for Shabbos. It started on tuesday when she would prepare her menu. Wednesday was for shopping. Thursday and friday were for cooking and baking, and more shopping. Before the holidays, my mother cooked up a storm. I still remember the pre-Passover prep, when my mother, her two sisters, and my grandmother would gather for several days to cook and bake. We would have turkeys and briskets, and the lightest, fluffiest sponge cakes you ever tasted. Plus, Grandma's chremzels which are a savory, matza-meal roll. What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table? Usually my father would issue a stern look. Who cooked in the family? My mom. My dad is fairly incompetant in the kitchen. And yet, for some reason, when it comes to barbeque, that's his dominion. The story in my family, is that after my parents were married, my mother was afraid to cook because she was afraid she might poison people, so every week my father would drive to my grandmother's where she would provide all food for shabbos - chicken soup, roast chicken, kugels, etc. When my parents moved to Long Island, my mom had to get over her fear and start cooking. And no one has ever been poisoned. Mom not only cooked dinner, but she made breakfast and lunch as well. As long as I lived at home, she made me breakfast. It was always either an orange or grapefruit, a main of hot cereal, grilled cheese, pancakes, etc, and milk. Always milk. And in high school, my lunches were legendary. I would get "make your own sandwiches" - all the components, that I would put together so the bread and lettuce didn't get soggy. Plus, there was always homemade cake. The first time I cooked a meal was in March, 1991. I was living at home after college, and my parents were away at a conference. Since they returning on friday, my mother asked if I would take care of shabbos. I defrosted chicken breasts and made a cranberry-pineapple glaze (no recipe, just throwing things together that I though would taste good) and marinated mushrooms. I'll never forget my dad's comment after tasting my food. He said "I won't be disappointed if I never eat this again." How's that for a shot to the heart? Were restaurant meals common, or for special occassions? Kosher restaurants on Long Island didn't really become prevelant until the 80s. In the 70s we would go for pizza once a month or so, and going out for "deli" was a real treat. But as I got older and there were more places to eat, we began to go out more. For birthdays we would come into "the city" and go to Moshe Peking, which was the "fancy" kosher chinese restaurant. I loved when we would go shopping on the Lower East Side, because it meant mushroom-barley soup and cheese blintzes at Ratners. Nowadays, my mom rarely cooks. They either have take-out or go out to dinner every night. They're getting extravagant in their old age. Did children have a "kiddy table" when guests were over? Never. I sat with the grown-ups. I'm the baby of my immediate family and of my generation of cousins. We all sat one very long table at holidays and were expected to contribute to conversation. The only concession to being a kid that I can remember was the little blue kiddush cup that I got at Passover instead of a crystal one like all the grown-ups. I knew I had "arrived" when I moved up to crystal. When did you get that first sip of wine? I was probably a toddler. We had wine at the table on our shabbos table. Of course, it was Concord Grape or Malaga. Dad always let me have a sip. My first exposure to hard alcohol was at 13 when I started going to bar mitzvahs. Somehow we got our hands on a screwdriver. I didn't have really good wine until I was about 20. It was a Gan Eden Gewurtzramiener. One taste and I understood what people meant when describing a wine as flowery. I could taste and smell the flowers. Shortly thereafter, my parents hosted Craig Winchell, the winemaker and owner of Gan Eden when he was in town for a bar mitzvah. I was beginning to explore wine and I inundated him with questions that weekend. Was there a pre-meal prayer? On shabbos we always started with kiddush (the blessing over the wine) and Hamotzi (blessing over the bread). After the meal we would say Bircat Hamazon (Grace after the meal). During the rest of the week, it was expected that you said the appropriate blessing pre- and post- meals. We worked on a honor system. Was there a rotating menu (e.g., meatloaf every Thursday)? Yes and no. There weren't specific meals, but you knew in concept what would be served. Sunday and monday tended to be shabbos leftovers. Tuesday and thursday were usually dairy meals. Thursday was frequently spanish omelettes. How much of your family culture is being replicated in your present-day family life? Quite a bit. Just like with my parents, almost all of my entertaining is done around the dining room table on shabbos. Although I don't cook as many traditional ashkenaz foods, there are still certain foods that I will cook to mark the seasons. For example, stuffed cabbage will only be eaten between Simchat Torah (the cabbage rolls are representative of the wrapped torah scrolls) and Purim. I will only make cheesecake once a year at Shavuot. Every year on Rosh Hashanna my mom would host a large open house for friends. I do the same thing. And I tend to go overboard with baking before Purim. The main difference is in the style of cooking. I use a much wider variety of ingredients (there is a lot more available to kosher cooks, than there used to be). I integrate different cuisines and flavors - I think nothing of using lemon grass or star anise, when my mom has no idea what they are. Plus, I tend to cook lighter foods.

I love potato salad and it's one of my husband's favorite foods. I make both mayo and vinagrette based potato salads depending on my mood and the rest of the meal. When making a mayo based salad I always make my own mayonaise. I'm partial to garlic mayo, but I recently made a basil mayo which I found pretty tasty. Currently, my favorite is a "dilled" potato salad. The vinagrette is EVOO, white wine vinegar, mustard and paprika with lots of dill, chopped dill pickles and scallions.